Posts Tagged ‘vegetable stir fry’

Although not the most photogenic of dishes, (made even less so with my lack of food photography skills :)) , it is a delicious and healthy dish, and quite a simple one to make.

I’ve observed many a Thai home cooks and their various personal styles for stir frying, and there is one technique which works well with vegetables such as zucchini and squash. Some vegetables (mostly leafy ones) are best flash-stir-fried on super high heat usually called “Fai Dang ไฟแดง ” or “red fire.” Chinese broccoli and morning glory (ผักบุ้ง) are wonderful for such technique, which involves stir frying the vegetables in a very hot wok for a very short time.

However, for vegetables such as zucchini and squash, which requires a bit more time to cook and allow flavors of the sauce to penetrate, a different technique is required. Cooks will stir fry to a point and, deglaze the wok with some water (yes, it is common in Thai cooking to deglaze with water!) and cover the wok with a lid to allow steaming and for flavors to penetrate.

So, that’s the technique we’ll use with this stir fry, a stir fry of zucchini and squash. (Note: This dish is akin to “Pad Buab” in Thailand. Buab is a similar vegetable to zucchini and squash.)

Ingredients:

1 large zucchini, cut into approx one sq inch pieces

1 large squash, cut into same size

garlic, about 4 cloves chopped

oyster sauce, about 2 tbsp

fish sauce, about 1 tsp

1 egg

oil

Heat wok and add oil. (For this dish, we won’t rely on a super hot wok since we will stir fry a while until the vegetables are tender. Medium to medium high heat is fine.)

Stir fry garlic till fragrant.

Add zucchini and squash and stir fry until almost tender.

Add oyster sauce and fish sauce and continue to stir fry.

Add a little water just to deglaze the bottom of the wok and cover the wok with a lid.

After a minute or so, check the tenderness of the zucchini and squash, and also the flavors. Adjust the flavors if needed.

Push the vegetables to the side of the wok and add an egg. Wait till it starts to set, then scramble and fold back in the vegetables.